Challenger of the Week: Valerie DiMambro

Aug 19, 2011

Last April, having never run more than two miles in her life, Valerie DiMambro signed up for a Couch-to-5-K program at the encouragement of a friend.She’d quit smoking three years earlier, but was teetering on the edge of wanting to start again. She was nearing a divorce, and looking for an outlet.A friend who was training for a half-marathon was in the best spirits he’d ever been in. “Seeing his change was inspiring,” she says, “so I started—one minute at a time.”Those first steps weren’t easy. “It felt like a rubber band was around my chest,” she says. But she kept going nevertheless, setting her sights on five miles, and then a half-marathon.Training kept her positive. There were many days when a beer was a lot more appealing than a core workout, but the prospect of completing 13.1 miles kept her on track.“I wasn’t giving up on me as I would have so many times in the past,” she says. After crossing the finish line, “I had found something precious. I had found the ability to do something positive in a time of stress and unhappiness—to not cloud the bad stuff with other bad things, and to allow myself to feel everything by sweating it out mile by mile.”DiMambro went on to cut 15 minutes off her half-marathon time and signed up for her first marathon—the Philadelphia Marathon with the Runner’s World Challenge.“I don’t know if running changed my life or if I changed my life for running,” she says, “but who cares really? My feet keep moving, my arms keep pumping, and my mantra keeps rolling, “Be patient. You got this.”Age: 31 Hometown: Medford, New Jersey Occupation: Project Manager Experience: Two half-marathons. The cool thing about being a newer and slower runner is that I feel like I PR every time I am in a race. RW Challenge Goal: Philadelphia Marathon Finish Line with a big old smile on my face! What is the biggest reward of your running life? My friendships with Paolo A. and Ali T. (my two amazing training partners) What is the biggest challenge of running on an everyday basis, and how do you get over it? Shaking off the cobwebs in the morning—oh man, do I hate to get out of bed! What advice would you give a beginner? Chill out. No one becomes a concert pianist in one day. Practice makes perfect, and skipping the boring stuff just makes for a sloppy concert. What is your idea of a rave run? I love an early morning run—me, the dew on the grass, and the bunnies. I live in the woods—so really it’s like meditation that early in the morning. But the getting to the running is the hard part! What is the piece of gear that you can’t live without? My water belt. It holds my tunes when needed and my hydration. Not to mention, I look so cool in it. How would you say that running has changed your life? Running made me look at what wasn't feeling right in my life and helped me feel strong enough to change it —like a moving meditation. Without running, I would never have discovered my gluten intolerance or the fact that I really do enjoy punk music or that I didn't need that other person in my life to feel complete. I am me—100%, all the time.

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